Dear members of the House Health and Human Services Committee,

Let me start by saying that I strongly oppose HB112; specifically, the language regarding Face to Face sales (banning internet sales).

I'm writing to add my voice to the many that you will likely hear from (and have likely heard from already) on the subject of HB112 which I believe you are scheduled to hear about tomorrow.  I'm a Utahn.  I've lived in this state all my life.  I was born and raised in the LDS Church.  I'm a father of two children (10 and 15).  One goes to public school and the other goes to the K12 charter school and is educated at home.  I'm also an ex-smoker who currently uses "e-cigarettes" or more accurately, a Personal Vaporizer purchased through a Utah company called ElectronicStix.

I've reedited this several times.  It either ends up being too long or too complicated.  The short version is this... The restriction of Internet sales proposed in HB112 would seriously hurt the community.  This is a growing business and a rapidly developing technology.  While we are fortunate to have a few vendors in my area that are selling a variety of products, many people are not so fortunate.  The alternatives that are sold in gas stations and convenience stores are lower quality and poor flavor choices compared to what is available from dedicated "Vape" vendors which are often only available by ordering online.  If I could show you my device, you'd see it doesn't resemble a cigarette at all.  The juice I use (as a 42 year old man) is a green apple flavor.  I have no desire to go back to either traditional cigarettes or even the low end electronic cigarettes that I can buy in my local gas station.  What I use works.  It's not sexy, or trendy, but it provides me with the nicotine which relieves my anxiety, helps with my ADHD and I hope based on the research I've read will stave off some of the effects of Alzheimer's disease which I have a family history of.

Those proposing this and similar legislation would tell you that there is no research but they are wrong.  There is a lot of research that has been done over the years on the effects of nicotine.  We are better able to examine air quality than we ever have been; partly in our efforts to understand what smoking tobacco was doing to us.  We may still find that there is something hidden in the vapor that is a concern but the research has been done and is continuing all over the planet as the scientific community tries to keep up with the technology.  The quality of the products that we'd be forced to use if this bill goes through will be substandard.  Some will be forced to try to make their own juice which has it's own dangers.  The devices that are carried in the gas stations are largely the cheaply produced and imported efforts by the tobacco industry and you'll forgive me if I don't have a lot of faith in their results.

I get that we want to keep these out of the hands of children.  As I stated up front, I'm a father who has no desire to see his children addicted to anything; however, as prohibition and our own morality laws here in Utah have shown us, governmental efforts at this type of control are ineffective.  You can't legislate morality as much as you'd like to.  Wendover Nevada and Evanston Wyoming are proof of that.  These city's flourish on the business of Utahns seeking to bypass overreaching efforts like this one.  We've already seen one business leave the state over fear of laws like this one.

I'm rambling now and I apologize.  Please think it through.  I understand the desire to regulate these devices and this industry.  I'd love to see some controls put in place regarding the manufacturing process of the juice similar to what's been done in Davis County; but, this bill doesn't do it and it's not the right approach.  Please vote this down and let's see if we can't work with organizations like Utah Vapors to come up with more appropriate controls.

Thank you,

Jon. Cannon